Woman charged with killing husband says she couldn't take his abuse anymore

Police mugshotJoyce MaloneOswego, NY -- Joyce Malone told her daughter she killed Ralph Malone “because she would rather go to jail than live the life she’s been living for so long,” according to statements filed in Oswego Town Court.

Joyce Malone, 69, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of her husband, Ralph, 74, who was found dead in their 128 Tug Hill Road home Friday afternoon. She was supposed to appear Monday night before Oswego Town Justice Stanley Jung, but the case was adjourned for one week.

The court papers include statements from Brenda Eddy, 43, the Malones’ daughter who lived next door at 118 Tug Hill Road, and Eddy’s husband, John, 46. Brenda Eddy gave her statement to Investigator Scott Beckwith and John Eddy gave his statement to Investigator J.R. Johnson II.
Both investigators are with the Oswego County sheriff’s office.

In her statement, Brenda Eddy said she received a phone call about 4:30 p.m. Friday from her mother. “I hung up the phone and told John I needed to go next door. I walked into my mother’s house and saw Dad on the couch and Mom sitting at the dining room table.”

Eddy told the investigator she smelled gunpowder, but did not hear a gun shot.

“I knew something was wrong but I couldn’t look,” she said. She said she called 911 and reported her father had been shot. She also called her husband, John.

“John looked at my father. John said my father was dead,” she told the investigator. “My husband John picked up a handgun from inside the house with a placemat and carried it to the garage.”

Eddy said her mother told her she’d rather go to jail than to keep living the life she had. She told the investigator her mother said “she could not take it any more. The abuse had gotten to be too much.”

John Eddy said in his statement that Brenda received a phone call about 4:30 p.m. Friday. He heard her say “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” After Brenda hung up the phone, “she said to me ‘I gotta go next door. I think mom killed dad.’”